A Prompt Prompt
by Amaris
Summary: Taking place about a year after the Buu Saga, Gohan must cancel plans with Videl when he is forced to baby-sit Trunks and Goten. Who will have the last laugh when Videl comes up with a plot to steal Gohan away from the two crafty half-Saiya-jins?


A Prompt Prompt

Amaris

Disclaimer: Dragonball/Z/GT belong to Akira Toriyama and Toei Animation and FUNImation and other wealthy people. This story and all the…uh…good things from it belong to me.

Author's Notes: Originally written for Panabelle's "Adventures in Babysitting" fanfic challenge, this story was thrown together in about twenty minutes. For one reason or another, it didn't get entered in the contest, but I thought I may as well put it up here. Not as deep as A Long Walk in the Rain, (Note shameless promotion) but good for a laugh.

It was a balmy night, and as she touched down, Videl shook her hair lightly, trying to dry the sweat. She rang the doorbell, and twiddled her fingers nervously before she heard footsteps coming up the hall. Well…either it was footsteps or her heart beating. Videl gave her hair a final shake to give it that cute messy look that she knew he liked so much before the door opened.

          Trunks answered the door.

          She felt her face fall before her manners could stop it, "What are you doing here?"

          "What are _you _doing here?" he said, giving her an indignant look.

          "I was going to spar with Gohan."

          Trunks broke into a grin, "Is that a code?"

          The comment was peppered just enough to be suggestive, and Videl stared at him for a moment. _What kind of…well, he is Buruma and Vejiita's son. _She sighed.

          "What's wrong with you? That's no way to talk to a lady," she said finally, "Now may I please come in?"

          He stared off over her shoulder, looking bored, "I guess you sort of had an appointment with Gohan?"

          "Yes, I suppose you could say that."

          "Are you ever gonna be surprised..."

          Videl grit her teeth, becoming impatient, "About what?"

          "Nothin'."

          "Torunkusu Vejiita Briefs, I'm bigger than you and—"

          "Oh yeah, like that means anything. What's the password?"

          "Damn it, Trunks, let me in!"

          Videl finally pushed her way past the grinning boy who simply replied, "Close enough."

          Following a short expedition through the living room, Videl finally found Gohan in the kitchen clearing away the dishes from dinner. He seemed preoccupied with what he was doing and didn't notice her standing at the entrance of the room with her hands on her hips, looking very much like her future mother-in-law

          Goten was happily bouncing up and down in his chair, "Hey, Videl!" he said cheerily.

          "Hello, Goten."

          By now Gohan had whirled around from the sink sending soapy water flying in her direction, "Videl!"

          "Perhaps that Supopovich guy hit me in the head harder than I thought, but I could have sworn that we had plans for this evening."

          Gohan sheepishly walked over to where Videl was standing, holding up his wet dishpan hands like a doctor about to go into surgery, "Videl, I'm so sorry, but there was nothing I could do. The Briefses invited Mom and Dad to this big gala or something and I got stuck looking after Trunks and Goten. I tried to call but you had already left."

          "_Your dad _went to a gala?" Videl said, raising an eyebrow suspiciously.

          "There's free food," Gohan said with a hopeless shrug.

          Videl sighed, "That's all right, Gohan. I'm sorry I snapped at you. Prince Charming here at the door irked me a bit."

          She heard Trunks make an irreverent sound behind her, "Ooh, witty."

          Gohan shrugged, "Give him eight or nine more years. Trust me, he's much more polite."

          At these words, Trunks' cheeks reddened a bit, but whether it was from anger or embarrassment, Videl couldn't say. It wasn't as if she couldn't identify though. Being the daughter of the "World Champion" carried with it a lot of responsibility, but Videl couldn't imagine having to live up to the standards of another version of herself.

          Goten jumped down from the chair and gave Gohan's gloves a tug, making a soap bubble pop on his head, "Whadaya want to do now, Gohan?"

          Finally taking off the sopping wet dishpan hands, Gohan slightly grit his teeth, and Videl could almost hear his brain yell, "_Not baby-sit!_"

          "I wanna play a game," Trunks said, as if his was the final word, even if it was the first.

          "That sounds all right to me," said Gohan, "Why don't you two go look in Goten's room for something. We'll be right there."

          The two boys ran off, and Videl and Gohan were finally given some time alone.

          "Look I'm really sorry," he said.

          She smiled, "It's okay. These things happen. Besides, if we get them distracted enough they'll go off and do their own thing. They always do."

          "Gee, I don't know, Videl," Gohan replied uneasily, "What if something happens to them? Mom and Buruma would get really mad, and those are two ladies that I definitely don't want to have angry with me."

          Videl put her hands on her hips and glared up at him, "You know another lady that you don't want angry with you?"

          "Okay, okay, fine. What should we do?"

          "Well…I know!"

"…8…9…10! READY OR NOT, HERE I COME!"

          Gohan quickly pulled his hands off his eyes and glanced around the room. Goten was sitting on the floor covering his eyes with his hands, giggling. Videl was sitting on the sofa, watching Goten, and Trunks appeared to have actually found a hiding place.

          "Okay!" Gohan said louder than he needed to, "Now I'll find you one by one, and tag you out!"

          Videl bit her lip to keep from laughing.

          "Videl!" Gohan yelled, "I found you!"

          "You have to catch me first!" she yelled back at him, despite the fact that he was three feet from her face.

          The pair ran outside into the night. Panting, they stopped and looked back from behind the safety of a tree to ensure that no one had followed them. When they were sure that they had got away, they turned to each other and laughed.

          "Ready to spar?" asked Videl.

          Gohan grimaced, "Do we have to?"

          "Oh, I get it," Videl huffed, "You'd rather spar with your little brother or your dad, or Piccolo. You don't want to have to hold back for poor wimpy little Videl."

          He rolled his eyes, "You know that's not true. If it's anything, it's the other way around. I'm just not into that stuff that much anymore."

          "Gohan, no other teacher has ever got the results that you did, and I want to stay in shape for the next Budokai!"

          "That's nine years away!"

          "I don't care!" she cried, "I might actually have a chance at this next one, and I want to prove myself! After this year all everyone was talking about was how Mr. Satan's daughter had got the snot kicked out of her!" she paused, "Well, until Vejiita blew up the stadium, that is."

          "Yeah, there was that little incident."

          "Please Gohan…I have so much to prove," she said, her eyes pleading with him.

          He smiled and kissed her.

          Videl was like a limp doll for a moment, "Are you sure you still want to spar?" Gohan asked her.

          She smiled back.

          Although only fifteen minutes had past since the beginning of the hide and seek game, by Trunks' estimation, it had been a couple hours, and he was getting a leg cramp from being squashed in the Sons' coat closet.

          _I thought that Gohan was supposed to be really smart, _he thought, _You'd think it wouldn't take this long. Well, screw this crap; I'm outta here!_

Gingerly poking his head out of the closet, he looked both ways like a pedestrian crossing the street to make sure the coast was clear. The living room seemed a bit too quiet, so he limped out to find Goten. This wasn't difficult considering that Goten was still sitting in the middle of the room covering his eyes.

          Trunks stretched his leg and rolled his eyes, "Goten, you really are stupid."

          The younger boy's mouth went from a state of relaxed floppiness to a cheerful grin, "You can't see me!"

          After wiggling his toes in his boot to ensure that the cramp was all gone, Trunks grabbed Goten's hands and yanked them off his face.

          His smile didn't falter, "Oh, Hiya Trunks! Didn't see ya there!"

          Trunks' face fell from a scowl to a look of slack exasperation that his father so often wore. He said nothing for a moment to express his feelings of general disgust, and then asked Goten if he had seen his brother.

          "I think he found Videl and he's trying to tag her out."

          Trunks twisted his lips in thought, "Well, he's taken about three forevers to do it."

          "Maybe they forgot about us."

          Trunks smiled until his canines were visible, "Or maybe they want us to forget about them. They probably went to spar... Goten, I have an idea for a new game. Let's be spies and go find Gohan and Videl, they can be the bad guys."

          "Can we be _cowboy _spies?"

          "Um…sure."

          Goten bounced up and down, "Cool!"

          "Great, whatever," Trunks mumbled, "Look, I think I heard them go out the back door, but being in the closet made it hard to tell."

          "Yeah, I think that's where they went."

          "Good, let's go."

          The two boys snuck up to the back window to look out, Trunks leading with Goten pretending to ride a horse in back.

          "I can see them!" Goten cried, fogging up the window.

          Trunks made a hissing noise deep in his throat to quiet him, "What kind of spy are you? Do you want them to hear us?" he turned his attention back to the window, "Hey…that's not sparring," he said, more to himself.

          "Yeah it is!" Goten said, still nowhere near a whisper, "One time I saw my parents sparring in the kitchen when I came home from fishing!"

          "Goten, you are possibly the…the kitchen?"

          Suddenly there was a noise in the living room, and Goten and Trunks hurried in to see what it was. Goku was lowering his fingers from his forehead and Chichi was stepping back with her arms folded indignantly.

          "Mama!" Goten cried, "You're home! What's wrong?" he asked, noticing her expression.

          Chichi glowered at Goku, "Well, your father ate all of the decorative lettuce beneath the buffet platters and we had to return home in shame."

          "Chichi, I don't understand why it's such a big deal. It seems like such a waste to just—"

          Goku was instantly shut up as Chichi shot him a look.

          "Uh…sorry."

          Chichi made a humming sound that indicated that the issue was unresolved but she'd deal with him later, "Did you two have fun with your…Trunks, are you okay?"

          Up until now, Goku had been submissively staring at the floor, but he looked up at this, and noticed that Trunks' eyes were as wide a saucers and he appeared to be sweating.

          Trunks' eyes were darting around, falling occasionally on Goku, to whom he appeared to be looking for an answer, "Nothing, ma'am."

          She turned her attention back to Goten, "What have you been up to?"

          Goten grinned, "We're playing cowboy spies."

          _That doesn't sound too bad, _Goku thought; _so then_ _why does Trunks look like he's afraid he's in trouble?_

"That's nice," said Chichi, "Where's your brother?"

          "He's outside sparring with Videl," Goten replied.

          Chichi's face changed from condescending inquisitiveness to something that would have been a frown had she not trusted Gohan. It was more of a thoughtful look.

          Fortunately, Goku had one of his rare moments of lucidity, and his jaw dropped. Trunks noticed and gave Goku a pleading stare. He quickly used his instantaneous movement to find Gohan and Videl, and appeared a few moments later by them on the ground. 

Not wanting to look down, Goku conversationally said, "My, what beautiful stars!"

          Gohan looked up and stuttered, "Dad…you're home early."

          Goku ignored him and looked at Videl, "Go home NOW!" he cried, letting fear creep into his voice.

          She quickly flew off, half dressed, and Goku IMed back into the house. Chichi turned at the slight noise that the technique used, but didn't say anything and just turned back around.

          "Take me to you brother," she told Goten.

          Goten obediently led his mother outdoors while Goku and Trunks nervously trailed behind. Gohan popped up from behind a bush with the middle button on his shirt undone. Trunks hoped Chichi wouldn't notice that.

          "Well, you found me!" Gohan said cheerily, "You guys sure are good at this game!"

          Trunks smacked his forehead.

          "But Gohan, you were supposed to try and find—" Goten didn't finish this thought because Trunks slapped him across the mouth.

          Trunks felt his jaw move ineffectively for a moment as he groped for a lie, " We, uh…the cowboy spies were hunting down the Great Saiyaman and his partner, Videl," Trunks finally got out, "Kintoun was playing Videl's part, but he left…I don't think he liked playing a girl part."

          "I know I wouldn't!" Goku piped in merrily.

          Chichi smiled as if she thought the whole thing was very cute, "Okay then. Gohan you look a little flushed, are you all right?"

          "Yeah, Mom. It's just a hot night."

          "It certainly is," she said, "Why don't you come in for a glass of water? I don't want you getting dehydrated."

          "Sounds good," Gohan said.

          Goku, Chichi, and Goten all went back indoors, but Trunks and Gohan remained outside for a moment.

          "Your button…" Trunks said with a sigh, pointing.

          He looked down and did up his shirt, "Thanks," he said, "I mean for everything."

          "You owe me," Trunks said rolling his eyes, "Big time."

          "Yes."

          "I think I'll come over here again next time your parents are out."

          Gohan laughed, "As long as Videl comes too, pop on over as often as you like."

The End 


End file.
